Grant will help protect Montana's wildlife habitat

Doris Duke Charitable Foundation funds conservation in the Rocky Mountain West

HELENA, MT — April 9, 2008 — A $13 million grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to The Nature Conservancy will result in conservation of critical wildlife habitat in the Rocky Mountain West. At least $2 million is slated for Montana’s wildlife conservation effort.

The grant is focused on helping five Rocky Mountain states implement their state wildlife action plans. An estimated $11 million of the total grant will be devoted to habitat protection and will be matched on a five-to-one basis, resulting in more than $55 million over the next three years for wildlife habitat conservation in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. The remaining funds will be used for educational efforts and building partnerships that advance the implementation of the plans across the West.

In Montana, the effort will be focused on voluntary, private land conservation in areas identified as wildlife habitat priorities, as determined through the multi-year planning effort led by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. The landscapes being considered for the funding are the Swan Valley, Montana’s northern prairies, the Flathead River, the Rocky Mountain Front and Mullen Pass near Helena. FWP is implementing conservation in other areas identified as priorities as part of the wildlife action plan.

“This effort represents the ideal kind of partnerships that we need to preserve Montana’s wildlife habitat and our way of life,” said Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer. “We’re delighted that the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation is investing in Montana and supporting the work being done here with local landowners and communities.”

The Conservancy plans to work with and re-grant some of the funds to the Trust for Public Land, the Conservation Fund, the Prickly Pear Land Trust and the Flathead Land Trust. These groups will in turn work with local and state partners to purchase conservation easements and lands from willing landowners.

Conservation easements have become an important tool for landowners who want to keep their lands in ranching, farming and forestry, while protecting important wildlife habitat. Land trusts and agencies have worked with landowners to place more than 1.5 million acres of privately owned Montana land under conservation easements.

“The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation has long been committed to collaborative conservation in the West and we’re pleased they’re continuing to support our on-going work in Montana with private landowners who have been great stewards of the land,” said Kat Imhoff, state director of The Nature Conservancy of Montana.

“I’ve got to give credit to Fish, Wildlife and Parks for working with different groups to come up with a roadmap for how we move forward to protect Montana’s wildlife and our rural landscape,” said Jim Stone, Blackfoot Valley rancher and chair of the collaborative group known as the Blackfoot Challenge.

State wildlife action plans were first conceived in 2000, when Congress directed each state to develop a strategy for conserving its wildlife. Congress approved Montana’s wildlife action plan in February 2007.

“A key goal of these plans is to keep common species common and other species off the endangered species list by protecting important habitat while it is still cost effective,” said Jeff Hagener, Director of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

“We’re thrilled to have private foundations investing in the plan that so many stakeholders worked on,” he said. “Through partnerships with non-profit conservation organizations and landowners, we will preserve Montana’s natural heritage, for both recreation and wildlife.”

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The Nature Conservancy is a nonprofit conservation organization that conserves critical habitats for plants, animals and natural communities. The Conservancy’s Montana chapter, based in Helena, has community-based programs around the state. It has worked with landowners since 1979 to conserve more than 600,000 acres of land in Montana. For more information, visit Nature.org/Montana

The mission of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (www.ddcf.org) is to improve the quality of people’s lives through grants supporting the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research and the prevention of child maltreatment, and through preservation of the cultural and environmental legacy of Doris Duke’s properties.